-Let the parade of “old Vitor is back” begin. One thing I glossed over in my gambling analysis is Belfort’s reliance on patient counter punching in his last few fights. When Mike Goldberg told us to watch for Belfort to blitz, I informed the people I watched the fight with that there would be no such thing. Instead Vitor came out reserved, made Franklin miss, and capitalized with his left hand.
-Rich is super durable, and he got a little unlucky getting caught right on or behind the ear which probably threw his equilibrium way out of whack. A couple of the big bombs Vitor landed following the knockdown looked to hit him square in the back of the head too.
-I think the pre and post show talk from the UFC shows that they’ve been hesitant about giving Henderson or Marquardt a title shot because they want to bank on a Silva/Belfort title showdown.
-While I won’t call for him to retire, I’m not sure where Mirko Cro Cop goes from here. It’s fair to say that he’ll never see a title shot within the duration of his current contract. I’d like to see him fight Randy Couture, though I expect him to be used as a special attraction on Euro shows outside of that.
-Junior dos Santos showed what he needed to show tonight. He looked tired in the final frame, but still fought effectively. His chin stood up very well and he reacted well (i.e. no reaction) to the sight of his own blood. I’d like to see him fight the winner of Velasquez/Rothwell or Kongo/Mir.
-Nice to see Tyson Griffin get the finishing monkey off his back, especially against someone as tough as Hermes Franca. It’s hard to make a bad matchup at 155, and there’s 10-15 guys he could reasonably fight next. Nate Diaz called out Dana and Joe to give him top competition, and that fight makes sense from a scheduling perspective.
-I thought both the Trigg and Kampmann stoppages were warranted live. As Joe said, Kampmann might have been given a couple extra shots, but I certainly can’t fault Yves Lavigne in that situation. Trigg, however, looked done to me. Koscheck had him pinned up in an exposed position and unloaded some bombs straight to his face. Almost looked like a repeat of the Trigg/Lawler fight. Unconscious or not, he didn’t appear to be fighting back whatsoever.
-I’ll own up to the Kampmann loss. Admittedly, I’ve been aware of his tendency to take shots to the face, but I let my mancrush on him overshadow those deficiencies. It surprised me that Kampmann had trouble bringing Daley to the floor, and the Brit made him pay for it.
-Goldberg followed up a bad Fight Night performance with an even worse performance here. I found myself repeatedly putting my head in my hands, begging Vitor’s God for mercy. I understand people hold some nostalgic feelings for him, but the man’s job is to describe things to other people and he can’t do it. I also have a bone to pick with Joe Rogan. Vitor Belfort is not literally twice as fast as other human beings.
-It’s bad enough that the UFC continues to advertise to people who are PURCHASING their product, but do they really have to continue showing us clips from crappy B-action movies? For all their monumental financial growth and preoccupation with legitimizing the sport, this stuff comes off extremely bush league.
-To end on a happier note, I hope we get to see more free prelims on Spike. It just makes sense for everyone. More free content for fans. Exposure for the fighters. A good lead-in to the pay-per-view. I’m not sure who loses on this deal unless Zuffa’s really hard up for the $54 they’ll make on those fights from the UFC Vault.
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